Ross called his mother in Taylor Mill early Wednesday to tell her about the attack.

Ross, 22, an Army specialist, fired at the car until it blew up just yards from the base's entrance.

"I've had a lot of people come up to me today to thank me for saving their lives," Ross told the Telegraph, a British newspaper. "But I tell them I was doing my job. It's a miracle no one was killed."

Ross, who has been in Iraq for eight months, was standing guard in a tower about 5 a.m. Tuesday when he noticed a suspicious car coming toward the base of 300 soldiers in Talafar, Iraq, according to news reports.

"I opened fire before he even hit our wire, and I kept firing until it blew up the vehicle. I let off almost 100 rounds," Ross said, according to Channelnewsasia.com. "I just kept thinking - get that vehicle stopped."

A 9-foot crater left by the bomb was 15 yards away from Ross's tower. At least 58 soldiers were injured, reports said.

The early morning call from Iraq shocked his mother.

"He didn't even get a scratch," she said. Her son was upset about the soldiers who were hurt, including five seriously, she said.

"We always tell him he's got two guardian angels watching over him," his mother said, referring to Ross's uncle and grandmother who died within days of each other last year.